I prefer phone over any other type of support. Most companies seem to want to steer you away from phone support.
I've had to call Apple support twice. Both times I spoke to a human without any wait, the employees were easy to understand and able to understand me, the employees seemed to have above average intelligence, and they were very helpful. It was the best customer support I've experienced in the last twenty years.
The sad thing is this is how almost all companies used to be. Apple is exceptional only in maintaining a standard of quality America used to expect and was given.